Although squid has excellent food value, it has not been extensively marketed in some areas due to the fact that the procedure for cleaning a squid is not generally known by average consumers in the area. Also, most commercial fish suppliers must use a manual, relatively inefficient method of preparing the squid which involves removing the head, eyes, skin, viscera, ink sac, and backbone from the mantle of the squid. Some attempts have been made to mechanize the squid cleaning operation and one of them is disclosed in the patent to Singh U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,099. In that device, each squid is automatically fed to a platform and oriented on the platform under a pair of rotating cutters that are then moved across the squid to divide it into three parts, namely, the mantle, the eye, and the tentacles. Means is also provided for discharging the eye and the tentacles and positioning the mantle on a rapidly rotating peg to dislodge the inner organs of the squid and subjecting the exterior surface to a stream of water to remove skin and fins. The present invention involves a machine that handles squid in a similar manner but does so with mechanisms that operate entirely differently than the mechanisms of Singh. A patent to Berk U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,921 discloses a mechanism for pulling the head and the attached viscera from the mantle of a squid. A squid process machine is also disclosed in the patent to Olsson U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,761.
Other patents disclosing mechanisms that are similar in some respects are the patents to Youman U.S. Pat. No. 1,900,267; to Youman U.S. Pat. No. 1,853,328; to Schlichting U.S. Pat. No. 2,835,918 and to Hogan U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,363.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for processing a squid in a continuous operation that begins with the receiving of a whole squid and ends with the discharge of a cleaned and skinned mantle.